Rolfe Winkler on the Wall Street Journal blog reports on “private conversations” that Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts has within Google about rewarding sites with higher rankings in the search results that have better security. This is news that has come out of SMX West, as we covered just about a month ago […]
Today, Microsoft released the developer preview of Windows Phone 8.1 and with that, the ability to play with a preview of Cortana, Microsoft’s answer to Apple Siri and Google Now. Both Gizmodo and CNet have released video demos comparing Cortana & Siri & Google Now. I like the Gizmodo comparison a little more, so we […]
An article in the Washington Post asserts that Google has now become a master lobbyist and behind-the-scenes manipulator in Washington. It details the company’s increase in campaign contributions and outreach efforts to influence legislators. The message of the lengthy article is that Google is now buying influence and policy outcomes that favor the company. Source: […]
The way agencies manage their customer accounts using their agency login in Bing Ads is soon to undergo a revamp. Currently, client account lists are housed under the Agencies tab, but Microsoft acknowledges there have been limitations to the functionality offered. The update is meant to fix these shortcomings. Instead of a separate Agencies tab, […]
Conventional wisdom tells us that younger generations trump older generations in their use of mobile devices during the local purchasing process. While teenagers use their smartphones at every opportunity to find local businesses, read reviews and scan deals, their parents and grandparents rarely rely on their devices to take advantage of what is increasingly available […]
In case you didn’t notice, we are waging a war over links. Some would say that SEOs are at war with search engines, but I disagree. Search engines and SEOs have a symbiotic relationship; and without meaning to, we’ve killed the value of the link. The link, once a simple connector from one site to […]
Got 10 seconds? Probably. But I bet you won’t spend it waiting for a web page to spin, sputter and load. I hate that. You hate that. And search engines hate that, too. But if your site is lightning fast, everyone will love you. Why Page Speed Matters Not too worried about your slow site? […]
When Google introduced Estimated Total Conversions in AdWords last September, the company made clear it was working on ways to measure the impact of online advertising on in-store sales as it outlined the initiative to give advertisers a complete view of the effect their search advertising has on purchases. At the time of the announcement, the […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Analytics Adds “Smart Lists” To Automate Remarketing List Optimization Earlier this week, the Google Analytics team announced the release of Smart Lists, a new remarketing list type that automates list […]
Earlier this week, the Google Analytics team announced the release of Smart Lists, a new remarketing list type that automates list creation and management in Google Analytics. Smart Lists are primarily powered by all that anonymized conversion data that comes from the millions of Google Analytics-enabled sites opted-in to share data with the company. Smart […]
Twitter continues to expand its collection of search filters with the recent addition of search for Timelines and Lists. I’m not aware of any announcement about this, but it’s showing up as a search filter on Twitter.com and in the official Twitter apps (both iOS and Android). The option in the left-side navigation says “Timelines,” […]
When content first hit the search scene, search marketers wanted to produce as much content as humanly possible. That’s a lot of work — so much so, in fact, that it’s ushered in wave after wave of crappy content. The great news is that you don’t have to create a lot of content to rank […]
Google has made stark changes over the past couple years in the way it ranks websites. When one of its most recent algorithm incarnations, Hummingbird, was released in August of 2013, it created a whirlwind in the search landscape and has since continued to have far reaching impact. In its wake, businesses have been forced […]
The recent Yelp/Yahoo partnership has angered some local business owners who say years of positive reviews are now gone from their Yahoo Local business listings. Some of their stories were told this week in the Wall Street Journal, including Colonial Hardwood Flooring of Lexington, Mass. The company says it had built up “six years of […]
In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.
Today’s Google logo honors renown chemist Percy Lavon Julian, the first African American scientist to be inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. During his career, Julian made a number of significant chemical advancements, including the creation of Aero-Foam, a soy-based product widely used to extinguish fires during World War II. Julian discovered how to […]
Search Engine Land’s SMX London search marketing conference is returning to the UK on May 13-14, 2014. We’ve got a revamped, updated agenda, and have already confirmed dozens of world-class speakers. SMX London is a can’t-miss event for all serious marketers, whether you’re the CMO or working to implement your key campaigns on a tactical […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: 10 Surprising Facts About “Keyword (Not Provided)” For Paid Search Earlier this week, everyone went bananas over a rumor that paid search query data was disappearing and that third party tools […]
Earlier this week, everyone went bananas over a rumor that paid search query data was disappearing and that third party tools providers would be slammed. In my article, I’ll clarify fact from fiction. Here are ten things you need to know about the Keyword (Not Provided) for paid search issue: 1. Can I Still Access […]
Google launched in 1998 and has grown steadily to become the most popular search engine in the world. Over 2,161 billion searches were run on their engines in 2013, and the company corners a 67% share of the global search market. As it grows and evolves, Google search is well and truly on its way to becoming humanity’s most […]
Yesterday, Google announced it is expanding secure search to clicks on paid ads. The change means that the search query a user typed in before clicking on an ad will be dropped from the referrer string in the URL and won’t be passed to analytics or other software other than AdWords. The move is aimed […]
This morning, the IAB released its full year 2013 report on digital ad revenue. Last year, online advertising generated $42.8 billion, which exceeded broadcast TV for the first time, by nearly $3 billion. However, broadcast and cable TV combined were worth $74.5 billion. After TV (as a whole) the “internet” is the largest ad medium […]
For the longest time, videos found within Google’s search results contained thumbnail images of a frame within the video. That is how Google has displayed richer search results, ever since the days of Universal Search. It seems like Google is testing making those video results a bit less rich by removing the video thumbnail image […]
So far, many have dismissed AdWords scripts as a toy that you can only use for small AdWords account setups. There are some ways to build out larger script frameworks that span multiple accounts, but it is clunky and still requires you to install a snippet of code into each account. Worse yet, if you […]
If you’re reading this, you probably already know that Google is making changes that will bring the much-maligned “(not provided)” to paid search. The AdWords world has been abuzz about the change for the past few days. The gist of the development is that when people using secure search click on AdWords ads, the user’s search […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Official: Google Brings “Not Provided” To Ads, Will Withhold Search Query Data From Paid Clicks As suspected, Google is moving to secure search for clicks on paid search ads. In an […]
As suspected, Google is moving to secure search for clicks on paid search ads. In an announcement posted by Paul Feng, Product Management Director, AdWords on the Ads Developer Blog, the company states, “Today, we are extending our efforts to keep search secure by removing the query from the referrer on ad clicks originating from […]
Yesterday, we reported that it seems likely Google will soon stop passing search query data on paid search clicks, as it already has for clicks on organic search results. With the news came questions — among them whether paid search management platforms such as Marin, Acquisio and Kenshoo would be done in by such a […]
A few years ago, while others were investing in their mapping platforms, AOL was coasting with MapQuest. AOL’s sustained neglect of the online mapping pioneer cost the site its leadership in digital maps. Now, the company hopes to claw its way back with new content and functionality in what was described to me as phase […]
Covario released its Global Paid Search Spend Analysis for the first quarter of 2014 today. Its client set — made up of enterprise technology, consumer electronics, and retail advertisers –increased paid search spend on mobile devices by 135 percent year-over-year and 35 percent over the previous quarter. Mobile now accounts for 25 percent of paid […]
Today comScore, Neustar Localeze and agency 15 Miles released the findings from their latest Local Search Study. Now in its seventh year, the survey of nearly 5,000 US adults was conducted in December 2013. Respondents “were individuals who [had] conducted a local business search in the last twelve months.” There were also behavioral data captured […]
A few weeks ago, we reported on cases where Google was misattributing content for select news publishers. We showed examples of Google showing URLs of large news publishers but those URLs listed were not the source URLs and thus, redirecting from Google’s search results to a completely different URL. Yesterday, a few weeks after we […]
While B2B SEOs understand the value in content marketing initiatives, we sometimes fail to understand the level of content commitment required to demonstrate success. In the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council’s recent study, “The Content Connection to Vendor Selection,” researchers uncovered six distinct personas that all consume different types of content and share that content […]
There are reports we are receiving from a few sources, including AJ Ghergich who posted it on his blog, that Google will soon stop passing keyword data to analytics software, even for AdWords advertisers. We expected changes to not provided in the near future, and based on these reports, the likelihood of advertisers being stripped […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google: News Sites May Have Seen A Decline In GoogleBot Crawling In March Google’s Matt Cutts tweeted that news related sites, such as this one, may have noticed a drop in […]
Google’s Matt Cutts tweeted that news related sites, such as this one, may have noticed a drop in the crawl statistics within Google Webmaster Tools. If you did notice that drop, Matt says you do not need to worry. Google News added if-modified-since support in March, which would be the reason for the crawl changes. […]
The PPC Twittersphere lit up today with word that Google dropped the latest version of AdWords Editor today. Here’s the lowdown on what’s new in Version 10.4. Bids and Bid Strategies: Much awaited, AdWords Editor now supports flexible bidding strategies. Users can update bid strategies down to the keyword level, apply flexible bid strategies from […]
Search Engine Land parent company, Third Door Media, Inc. introduces MarTech, a conference for people pioneering the field of technology-powered marketing, will be held in Boston August 19-20, 2014. Secure your spot & save with our lowest alpha rates – Register now!
Googler Jade Wang announced yesterday Google Places is rolling out new features to its bulk location management tool. According to the announcement, the new features will include a “Status” column that lets users know if a Map location is live, unverified, has errors, data conflicts, is a duplicate, or if it is pending review. The […]
Despite its controversial $700 million acquisition of travel software company ITA several years ago and the launch of Google’s Hotel Finder site, Google has yet to emerge as a force in online travel. That may all be about to change. Bloomberg reported yesterday that Google “is licensing hotel-booking software from Room 77 Inc.” The news […]